Featured in New York Weekly

Spojmie Nasiri

Immigration attorney, Northern California

A refugee at six, separated from her mother for five years — now one of the most sought-after Afghan immigration attorneys in the country.

Read it live on New York Weekly

Spojmie Nasiri featured in New York Weekly

Live on New York Weekly

The client

Spojmie Nasiri has practised immigration law in Northern California for more than eighteen years — family-based immigration, asylum, deportation defense and naturalization — for thousands of clients worldwide. She is fluent in Pashto and Dari, serves on the ABA's Commission on Immigration, and sits on the board of the Afghan American Community Organization. She was inducted into the Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame (2019) and received AILA's President's Commendation Award in 2022 and 2023.

The goal

Spojmie's practice has grown on word of mouth, and her story is the reason she does the work. The aim was a feature that told it honestly — so families, colleagues and the organisations she serves could see both the lawyer and why she practises the law she does.

What we did

We built the piece around her own journey: arriving from Afghanistan as a refugee at about six, five years apart from her mother, and the reunion that shaped her career — then her advocacy, scholarship with USC Gould's International Human Rights Clinic, and her work mentoring young women of color entering the profession. We wrote it to editorial standard, Spojmie approved every word, and it runs on New York Weekly as a branded feature.

The result

The feature is live on New York Weekly as "The Shape of an Absence: Spojmie Nasiri's Journey From Refugee to Immigration Attorney" (July 22, 2026) — a permanent, searchable account of her story and her work.